How to Use willful in a Sentence

willful

adjective

• He has shown a willful disregard for other people's feelings.
• Most of the non-willful fines were in the hundreds of dollars.
  — oregonlive, 20 Apr. 2022
• Her Ma comes across as brash, crass, willful and nasty in all the best ways.
  — Mike Scott, NOLA.com, 14 Dec. 2020
• At the top of this list might well be his willful destruction of the Russian Army.
  — Michael Krepon, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2022
• That was the first act of Tulsa’s willful forgetting: to bury the truth of what had happened.
  — Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Mar. 2021
• These are smart, willful women with minds and careers of their own.
  — Lili Anolik, VanityFair.com, 19 June 2017
• This season focuses on the willful delusion of the wealthy.
  — Lauren Jackson, New York Times, 11 Dec. 2022
• He was arrested and charged with torture and willful abuse of a child.
  — Carol Robinson | [e-mail], al, 14 May 2020
• Dees is charged with torture or willful abuse of a child under 18-years-old, which is a class C felony.
  — Prescotte Stokes Iii, AL.com, 31 May 2017
• Her mother, 70, was booked on three counts of torture and three counts of willful cruelty to a child.
  — Laura L. Davis, USA TODAY, 10 Nov. 2022
• The greed and willful blindness must be laid at the feet of his investors and financial partners.
  — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2021
• In effect, the public was dragged from willful ignorance by the truth.
  — The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2021
• Mayorkas, 64, faced two charges from the House: willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and breach of public trust.
  — Kyler Alvord, Peoplemag, 7 Feb. 2024
• Adella Tom was booked on three counts each of torture and willful cruelty to a child.
  — Gina Martinez, CBS News, 10 Nov. 2022
• And so there's a willful destructiveness as much as there is a very strong creative urge in her.
  — Jessica Wang, EW.com, 10 Jan. 2023
• Mayorkas, 64, now faces two charges from the House: willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and breach of public trust.
  — Kyler Alvord, Peoplemag, 14 Feb. 2024
• If the violation can be proved to be knowing or willful the amount is tripled.
  — Peter J Reilly, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024
• Having said all that, the case against Trump for willful failure to disclose is still not a complete slam-dunk.
  — Sean Illing, Vox, 3 May 2018
• One was unruly, willful and disobedient, and the other was calm and easy to be around.
  — Haben Kelati, Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2024
• Both are charged with murder and willful harming of a child, according to jail records.
  — Fox News, 12 Nov. 2021
• First, the six willful men themselves were quite a bunch, drawn from all over the country, and opposed to the war for different reasons.
  — Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 10 Mar. 2017
• The movie gives no real sense of what made L3 so willful and independent.
  — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 27 May 2018
• But the willful swirl and the withholding of coherence are too extreme here.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 2 June 2021
• Leda observes Nina on the beach with her young daughter, who seems willful and moody.
  — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 5 Sep. 2021
• Gotthard gave Elizabeth the task of controlling the spoiled, willful, and lazy child.
  — Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News, 9 Feb. 2025
• Where there is a will there is a way, but on some occasions being too willful can cause problems.
  — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 20 Aug. 2020
• That, along with the willful ignorance of looking a fact square in the face and proclaiming it false, is a tremendous danger.
  — Bill Goodykoontz, azcentral, 28 June 2018
• Elijah Cade, 19, has been charged with willful fleeing.
  — Cliff Pinckard, cleveland, 8 Jan. 2020
• Chief among them was immigration, after nearly four years of willful neglect at the border had left the party’s reputation in tatters.
  — W. James Antle Iii, The Washington Examiner, 13 June 2025
• Accreditors must put an end to schools’ willful ignorance of employment outcomes.
  — Ryan Craig, Forbes.com, 13 June 2025